Navigating the Political Challenges to Sustainable Development

Volume 26No. 4

by
By James E.A. Slaton

James E.A. Slaton is a member of Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann LLC in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the vice-chair of the Real Property Division Land Use and Zoning Committee.

The Tea Party has become a force to be reckoned with in all arenas and forums of political life in the United States, from the 2012 presidential race to those most local of governing bodies, the planning and zoning boards of cities and towns all over the country. Among other targets, the principles of “smart growth” and its proponents and practitioners have found themselves in the Tea Party crosshairs, which characterizes pro-smart growth policy as a government scheme to force an unwanted lifestyle on its citizens.